FACE2FACE WITH WASANA DASKON
in Paris.
Wasana Daskon
Interviewed by Dr. Tilak S. Fernando
Walking
through the streets of Paris, and thinking of having a typical French lunch, I
was first struck by a 'Sri Lankan looking' lady standing inside an eatery,
which resembled a Japanese restaurant, with its name board too displaying the
words, Japonais Sumiyaki. In my endeavour to kill my curiosity, later
I found her not only to be very much Sri Lankan, but the very owner of Japonais Sumiyaki and two more Japanese
restaurants in the heart of Paris. In response to her cordial invitation, and
typical Sri Lankan hospitality, I finally ended up having lunch with her, at
her restaurant, where the menu happened to be completely Japanese with all its
varieties including raw fish!
Wasana Daskon is a remarkable woman who has an interesting
life's experience to tell. She hails from the lineage of old Sri Lankan Kandyan
ancestors, descending from the legendary Daskon character, who is said to have
been beheaded by the then Kandyan King for having fallen in love with his
queen! Quite contrary to her great great ancestors, Wasana Daskon's love life
had not been a bed of roses! Faced with an unexpected divorce when in Paris,
thus becoming marooned in a vast city with two little boys, she has had to face
the music alone and survive. Her
survival is remarkable and an admirable.
Within a very short period of time Wasana not only became a self-made
entrepreneur in Paris by venturing into the catering industry, which was an
equally difficult challenge in her life with Japanese gastronomy. She has created history by being the proud owner
of three Japanese food outlets, and became the first Sri Lankan entrepreneur to
shine in France with Japanese cuisine. While enjoying a Plateau Chirash, which
was an assortment of Sushi, Maki etc., I managed a Face2Face conversation with
her about her life and business in France. Here are excerpts of that
interesting interview.
Q. Your
family name seems to have a linkage with the old Kandyan Kingdom in Sri Lanka
and history reminds me of the legendary Daskon, the amorous minister to the
King's Court, who was decapitated after having a love affair with the queen! Do
you descent from that ancestry?
A. Yes, My great, great grand parents
were linked to the famous Daskon character that you mention. I was born in Kandy.
My father, was a 'Mohandiram' those days, a politician and a well-known
journalist. Mother was a reputed seamstress cum teacher. I was educated at
Umpitiya Berawats College initially and later at St. Scolastica's Girl School
in Kandy.
Q. Did
you hail from a large family?
A. Yes, 7 altogether - 2 boys and 5 girls. We
are all scattered now all over the world - in Sri Lanka, Paris, Italy, and
Sweden etc.
Q. You
are a Sri Lankan lady running not only one but three Japanese restaurants from
the heart of Paris. How did you get involved in the restaurant industry, and
particularly in the area of Japanese food?
A. It
is an unbelievable story. I encountered some personal family problems in Paris and
ended up in a divorce and got marooned in this vast city with two young
children to bring up. I had no choice, but to fight for survival in bringing my
kids up. Luckily I had a fundamental background knowledge and experience in
Japanese Sunu Yaki from Sri Lanka,
which was the only thing I knew to survive in a foreign land!
Q. It
must have been a traumatic experience?
A. I suppose when you are thrown into the
deep end in life, you have no choice but to be brave and fight for your
survival. That was exactly I did.
Q. When
you say you had a basic background knowledge in Japanese cuisine in Sri Lanka,
how do you mean?
A. After sitting my 'A' Level exam, I
followed a training course in Restaurant and Bar Management at Berot's school
conducted by the Sri Lanka Hotel School. In fact, I did science for my 'A'
levels with the idea of reading medicine in the university.
Q. Why did you abandon studies?
A. During my training, catering appealed to me
and changed my mind about medicine. Later, I found a job in a Japanese
Restaurant in Bambalapitiya in 1980, which was the first ever-Japanese
restaurant in Sri Lanka at the time. My estranged husband was the Chef there at
the time, so I had access to the kitchen while working as a steward. This
helped me to familiarise myself with the Japanese cuisine and learn more about
Japanese in general.
Q. What happened then?
A. Later I
changed my jobs and worked at the 4 star hotel, Club Oceanic in Trincomalee.
From there I moved to Colombo and worked at the Hotel Oberoi.
Q What made you to come
to Paris?
A. When my husband decided
to emigrate to France, it became an automatic decision for the children and me
accompany him.
Q. Did you start on a business straightway when
you landed in Paris?
A. No. It's a long story. After our marriage
came to an unexpected end, the first thing I did was to learn French at
Sorborne University. It was a stroke of fortune; I believe that I managed to
find a job in a Japanese restaurant while learning French. Later I moved from
there and worked in two more Japanese restaurants in Paris. This gave me the
added confidence, experience and the knowledge on Japanese cuisine, and of
course my knowledge of the French language from Sorborne helped me a lot.
Q
How did you branch out to run your own Japanese Restaurant?
A. At Yama
Khi Japanese restaurant,t I received additional experience in the Management
side after working for some years. That gave me the confidence and experience
to venture in to the catering business on my own, and by that time I had more
than 10 years of experience. Luck was still on my side when the proprietor of
Yama Khi suddenly decided to throw the towel in, and get back to his roots in
Japan. He offered me the first refusal to buy the place, if I wanted.
Q. So, the luck was really on your side, no doubt?
A. Yes, in the year 2000, I opened the first
Japanese Restaurant in a small scale as a joint venture, in Paris 17. It was
mainly a Bento Service (a delivery
service) with the help of one motorcycle and a single deliveryman. The opening
of the business cost us 50,000 French franks at the start. On my part I had to
seek a loan from the bank to start the business. The Chef who had worked for
many years at Yama Khi and became redundant, when the owner decided to quit,
agreed to join with me as a business partner.
Q, What do you specialise in?
A. Yama Khi -
99% on a Bento Service
.
Q. What is a Bento Service?
A. Its a home delivery service. Food is
prepared onto a plate, as per customers' order, and delivered to their homes.
Contents on the plate vary, but we offer a full range of Suschi, Sachimi (raw
fish), Yaki Tori (grilled meat in pan with Japanese sauce- very popular)
Tempura, Teriyaki etc. The drawback in Bento Service was that the food was
getting cold during delivery, especially in winter. Unfortunately customers had
no choice on that.
Q. You seem to have overcome that problem and
expanded the business into three restaurants!
A. I had a brain wave and adopted a system
similar to that of Pizza delivery. Instead of the cardboard boxes which Pizza deliveries use, I introduced
aluminium boxes to retain heat of the food, which is normally wrapped in foil.
The motorcycle was replaced by car deliveries for some time and later reverted
back to motorcycles again for faster deliveries through congested traffic
conditions in Paris.
R. So, you have created history by becoming the
only Sri Lankan lady, who opened a Japanese Restaurant in Paris?
A. That is correct. In actual fact, even
up to date there is no other Japanese restaurant run by a Sri Lankan in Paris.
From Paris 9, we could not cover a wider area of Paris, and to overcome that
problem our third restaurant was set up from Paris 15.
Q. How do you manage three restaurants at the same
time, and have a good control of the business?
A. I have an effective computerized operating
system whereby all orders on the phone come to the master computer in this
office (HQ.) From here, we delegate orders to the appropriate branch, depending
on the area nearer to the customer. By this way it is possible to manage and
operate with a minimum of unproductive staff. Also I am able, at the end of the
day, to see how many orders have gone from all three branches and the total
collection quite accurately.
Q. Are your customers mainly Japanese?
A. You will be
amazed to hear that, it is not. Actually it's the French who love Japanese
food.
Q, Why did you concentrate on French food and
not on a Sri Lankan restaurant?
A. You cannot survive in Paris out of a Sri
Lankan restaurant, because what we can offer to our customers will be limited.
The vital factor is that the French do not like spicy food. We found that out from
our market research prior to committing to the business. Also, we do not go
into typical authentic Japanese taste as such, because it does not appeal to
the French palette. Again our research revealed that an adopted version with
little spices, mayonnaise sauce and sometimes with smoked salmon is what is
appealing to most of our customers.
Q. How about the hygiene factor since you are
mainly dealing with fish?
A. You are
correct. Since we are dealing with raw fish, one has to be extremely careful.
We always get our fresh stocks on a daily basis.
Q. What is your secret in developing and expanding your business meticulously, as I
can see it runs like clockwork?
A. We advertise mainly on the Internet. In
this part of Paris, all restaurant owners like Italian, French, Indian, Chinese
and other International groups pool together and share two websites - www.aloresto.com and www.canalood.com . Nearly 60% of our
orders come through the Internet. We have regular customers who order as well
as visit us.
Q. Not only
you have a Japanese name as Japonais
Sumiyaki for your restaurant, but also you seem to have gone completely
Japanese with your apron etc., which really projects a typical Japanese
atmosphere here. What is the general menu you offer to customers today in a
much more expanded version of operation?
A. Our two main restaurants are at 236, Rue de
la Croix Nivert, 75015 Paris and 26, Rue Lamartine, 75009 Paris. We offer
Suchsi, Maki, Cornet, Sashimi, Chirasih, Yakitori etc., combined into various
forms.
Q. What would
be the average cost for a couple to eat at your restaurant?
A. We are catering for the middle
classes and the lunchtime office crowd. A couple can have a good meal for
around 25 Euros.
Q. What is
your future plans in the business?
A. Actually, I have been exploring the
possibility of opening a similar Japanese restaurant in London as well. But my
real ambition is to have an International Food Centre, similar to the food
outlet at Criscat and Majestic City shopping centres in Colombo.
Q. You are not only a businesswoman but a writer
as well, aren't you?
A. True, My
father was a journalist and I suppose I have some of his journalistic genes as
well. I used to write from a very young age to children's pages in Sri Lankan
newspapers. There was time when I had so much on my plate, so to speak, while I
was studying and setting up the business as such, I had no time to breathe even.
Now that I am more or less settled in my business I have restarted on my
writing.
Q. What have you written so far or contemplating
on, at the moment?
A. I have compiled three Sinhala novels - Senehasaka Kandulu, Nilambare` & Randi Tharu; I have not yet given a title to the third novel
although the writing has been completed and ready to go to print. I also have
reviewed books and do write Sinhala Kavi (poetry).
Q. Where do
you find the time to concentrate on writing with such long hours at the restaurant
from morning till night?
A. I live at the outskirts of Paris, and
I do not want to drive to Paris. Daily I take the surface train, SNCF which
takes 45 minutes from the local station to my business premises in Paris, and
that gives me an ample opportunity to think, read and write. Mind you, I do
this trip four times a day, as I have to come home and as well to attend to my
two young boys as well in the meanwhile.
Q. From
the two titles of the books, Senehasaka Kandulu, Nilambare` & Randi Tharu,
it gives me the impression that the story line is based on your personal
experiences! Am I correct? Are we going to see your stories in print in the
near future?
A. Well, You will have to read the novels first.
As you being a journalist, I don't have to tell you that in every short story
or novel, there is a certain percentage of truth or personal experiences of the
writer wrapped up with fiction! Yes, I am sure my stories will appeal to the
readers, because they are a mixture of real life experiences focussing on the
worldly matters and the modern day social issues, particularly pertaining to Sri
Lanka. My aim is to make these stories an eye opener for all levelheaded
readers.
Paris - 2004
News Lanka London publication
News Lanka London publication